Canada’s main stock index shed nearly 100 points on the final trading day of the week in a broad-based decline.
The S&P/TSX composite index closed down 81.31 points at 14,952.33.
“Resource stocks in Canada are selling off today because a higher dollar negates the rise in the commodity price,” said Norman Levine, managing director of Portfolio Management Corp.
The loonie recorded its third consecutive day of gains, trading at an average price of US79.45¢, up 0.38 of a U.S. cent.
It’s risen US1.05¢ since Tuesday’s daily average price of US78.40¢.
The loonie rallied Friday following news that the country’s annual inflation rate accelerated in July for the first time since January. Last month, the year-over-year inflation rate rose to 1.2% and the rise reinforced notions that the Bank of Canada will once again hike its benchmark interest rate in the fall.
The strengthened loonie prompted a sell off in resources stocks, said Levine, explaining commodities are priced in U.S. dollars.
Shares in the global gold and the energy sector slid, despite a boost in the price of oil.
The October crude contract gained US$1.42 to US$48.66 per barrel.
The commodity got a lift from a lower U.S. rig count. Figures released Friday showed the number of rigs exploring for oil and natural gas in America decreased by three this week to 946.
While resource stocks contributed to the day’s fall, Levine said he believes “the general malaise in the Canadian market really … has to do with the anti-business attitude that the federal, provincial and municipal government have over various sectors and industries, and investors are saying, ‘You know, I can invest in more investor-friendly, hospitable places.”‘
He pointed to the federal government’s lukewarm attitude to pipeline investment as an example of such attitudes.
South of the border, indices also fell.
The Dow Jones industrial average slipped 76.22 points to 21,674.51, while the S&P 500 index fell 4.46 points to 2,425.55. The Nasdaq composite index dropped 5.38 points to 6,216.53.
Some of that comes from continued reaction to political drama coming from the White House and to the terrorist attack in Spain on Thursday, Levine said, while part of the drop can be attributed to profit taking as valuations in the U.S. have reached high levels.
Elsewhere in commodities, the December gold contract retreated US80¢ to US$1,291.60 an ounce. The September natural gas contract fell US3.6¢ to US$2.89 per mmBTU and the September copper contract was relatively unchanged at about US$2.94 a pound.
With files from the Associated Press